1. Field of the Disclosure
The present invention is generally related to beverage brewing machines, and more particularly to a brewer that is height adjustable.
2. Description of Related Art
Beverage brewing machines are known in the art for both commercial use as well as consumer, in-home use. A beverage brewer is typically utilized to brew a fresh beverage from a brewing substance, such as coffee grounds, tea leaves, or the like. Beverage brewing machines come in many different configurations and can vary from highly complex commercial brewers configured for heavy or continuous use to much simpler, in-home brewers for occasional use. These types of brewing machines are thus used in a wide range of environments. As a result, a wide variety of usage parameters, counter space variations, site characteristics, and the like are often considered when designing or selecting a particular beverage brewing machine.
One additional variable is often encountered during use of a brewing machine. A brewed beverage is dispensed from the brewer into a container or vessel. The type of vessel into which the brewed beverage is delivered can vary widely. The size, shape, volume, height, top or fill-opening size, and the like of the vessels can vary greatly. Many beverage brewing machines are configured to accommodate a single vessel size and, thus, may not be compatible with other types of vessels. A vessel may be too large to be placed beneath the dispenser of the machine for dispensing liquid into the vessel. Alternatively, the vessel might be too small for a larger size machine such that the dispensed beverage travels a long distance before reaching the vessel. This can cause the beverage to splash from the vessel or even to cool while being dispensed into the vessel.
A number of height adjustable coffee brewing machines are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,054,085 and 5,916,351 disclose brewing machines that are modular in nature. Each of the disclosed machines has a housing or tower that can be extended by the addition of an adapter or extension insert to increase the height of the tower and, thus, to accommodate a range of vessel heights. U.S. Pat. No. 6,082,246 and Publication No. 2006/0283330 each disclose coffee makers that are also height adjustable. Each of these disclosed brewing machines has a housing or tower that can be extended in height by operation of a motorized rack and pinion gear system that raises and lowers one portion of the tower relative to another. Thus, these disclosed brewing machines also can accommodate different height vessels.
The motor and gear systems include a number of parts that are relatively complex and expensive and that can fail during use. The insert or adapter systems require providing an additional, separate housing piece, which must be stored when not being used.